Change Your Image
janhatesmarcia
Blade Runner
Alien
Young Frankenstein
Amelie
Catch 22
Dr. Strangelove
Flirting With Disaster
Terminator 2
The Dirty Dozen
12 Monkeys
Bullets Over Broadway
Clueless
Airplane
Ghost World
Rosemary's Baby
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A Room With a View
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Lady in the Water (2006)
Shyamalan is having us on!
About 1/4-1/3 of the way through this movie I decided that Mr. Shyamalan was having us on. The clues are all there: the film critic (Bob Balaban) who describes film clichés (which are included in the movie), the over-the-top characters (who were mostly fun, actually--like "Six Feet Under"'s Freddy Rodriguez playing a one-sided weight lifter), the ludicrous creature names ("scrunt" "narf"), the way every little thing was spelled out for the audience--even the name of the title character ("Story").
It was a bad sign from the very beginning of the film, when--with pseudo-primitive drawings--a narrator essentially tells us the entire plot of the film(!). There are some good actors totally wasted in this film, and that does NOT include the director himself, who, if he feels the need to appear in his own films, should limit that appearance to a brief Hitchcockian cameo.
As my friend commented, Paul Giamatti (excellent actor that he is) looked at times as if he were wondering "What on earth was I thinking!" He is, however, very funny as the stuttering handyman in this apartment building of misfits.
On the other hand, if Mr. Shyamalan was not having us on, then this is one of worst films I have ever seen. And, even if seen as satirical or ironic, the satire is so heavy-handed that I can only suppose the the director thinks film-goers are complete idiots.
It's a shame, because "Sixth Sense" was so good, so original. Even "Signs" worked, for the most part. I walked into the theater with low expectations, but I still wasn't prepared for the laughable script and plot.
There are no horror or thrills in this "horror/thriller" film.
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
Gidget Meets Cthulhu
This movie is a HOOT! Unintentionally, of course--which makes it all the better. Dean Stockwell moves through most of the movie like he's heavily sedated (or maybe in shock at finding himself in such a bad movie), only coming to life in the film's climax.
Poor Sandra Dee--the eternal virgin--has to learn the hard way never to give strange young men a ride home from the library.
Psychedelic "special effects" complete the experience...all of it taking place in the accursed hamlet of Dunwich...but I won't spoil the fun by saying any more. Let me just add that I am a fan of Lovecraft's & should have been miffed at this botched attempt...but I was too busy laughing.
Collateral (2004)
*smack!*
This could have been such a good movie--strong actors, great premise, good cinematography...
BUT--the plot was so riddled with coincidences that it distracted from the story. And when you're distracted from the story by such contrivances the movie doesn't work.
For example: the good cop walks in on the feds' surveillance cameras at the exact moment the cab is in front of the building they're watching; one of the targets just *happens* to be in the cab before the killer; the good cop just *happens* to recall, at the crucial moment, a similar crime from a while ago and in another jurisdiction; the main character just *happens* to find a vantage point on a rooftop from where he can see not only his damsel in distress but her would-be killer AND the lights are on in ONLY those locations...etc., etc.
COME ON!!! Sloppy sloppy writing!
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
More of a Nightmare
After watching this movie I wanted to slit my wrists. It's a relentless, wrenching portrayal of 4 people's descent into drug addiction hell. The performances--by Burstyn, Leto, Connelly & Wayans--are compelling and moving. (Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from Jared Leto, but I was pleasantly surprised.)
Aronofsky's direction and Jay Rabinowitz's editing are as tight as it comes, as is the work of cinematographer Matthew Libatique. The ending was so poignant--as we see not only the wrecks these people have become, but view glimpses of what they could have been--I was moved to tears, something that very rarely happens to a cynic like me. (And, of course, I wanted to get out the razor blade!)
Watch it, but not if you're clinically depressed.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
One helluva a movie.
Call me weird, but I've had a thing for Lee Marvin since I was 12 years old. "The Dirty Dozen" is possibly his best film. The basic scenario is great: take a bunch of misfit prison inmates and offer them the choice of continuing their jail sentence/death penalty or a joining a military mission, after which--if they survive (and the chances are slim)--they will be free.
Full of great "character" actors, the film is as much about the characters as it is about the action. Although not as gritty as later war dramas, there is one scene in particular that demonstrates the ugly reality of war.
I really liked it--and I'm not a guy!